392 CHRISTIAN MORALITY, &C. [SERM. XxIIL selves an example to you." See Acts xviii. 3. and e Thess. iii. 8, 9. And good Dorcas, when she had no business of her own,. made coat& and garments for the poor, Acts ix. 36, 39. Such honourable examples as these deserveour imitation. DIREc,z'roN :III. Let us keep a strict watch over ourselves when we indulge mirth, and set a double guard upon the seasons of recreation and divertisement. The rules of religion do not so restrain us from the common entertainments of life, as to render us melan- choly creatures, and unfit for company. There is no need to become mere mopes or hermits, in order to be christians. The gospel does not deprive us of such joys as belong to our natures, but it refines and heightens our delights. It draws our souls farther away from mean and brutal pleasures, and raises them to manly satisfac- tions, to entertainments worthy of a rational nature, worthy of a creature that is made in the image of God. The innocent entertainments of , life are not utterly for- bidden to christians, but are regulated by the gospel. When we have considered and found them to be law- ful, then they are to be regulated these two ways. 1. All our recreations and divertisements must have some valuable end proposed. e. We must distinguish the proper time á.nd season of them, and confine our diversions to that season. I. Theymust always have some valuable end pro- posed. The chief and most useful design of them is to makeus more chearful and .fitter for some hours or days of service afterwards. Recreation must not be our trade or business, but merely used as a means to prepare us for the valuable businesses of life. The scripture indeed tell us, that of every idle word that men shall speak, there shall be au account given in the day ofjudgment," Mat. xii. 3G. And much more of idle hours and actions. But this doth not utterly ex- clude all manner of recreations, or all words of plea- santry, which may be innocently and properly used upon some occasions ; but whatsoever words, whatso- ever conversation, whatsoever sort of pleasurable en- . tertainments, we indulge ourselves in, which have no valuable end, no useful design in them : These will bear but an ill aspect before the judgment seat of Christ. We shall not be able to give a tolerable account of such idle
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=